


Parenthood

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [29]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Parent-Child Relationship, Step-parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 01:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13987929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: Sometimes kids just say the shittiest things to their parents. Sometimes parents say the shittiest things back.Rachel decides to mouth-off to Leo, who in turn has some pretty ugly things to say right back. Ren is less than pleased with the words that are traded between the two._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.





	Parenthood

Rachel's around 14 when she finally has the balls to mouth-off to Leo. Not her normal arguing, or back-talking, or snide remark under her breath. No, she states it loud, clear, and confident. He would probably be impressed if it didn't offend him a little.

She's been giving Renee shit all day for not allowing her to go to some stupid sleepover with a person Rachel doesn't even like. After listening to her mother tell her no for the thousands time today and Rachel yet again demanding to know why, Leo grits his teeth and closes the pantry with just a little more force than necessary.

"Your mother said no. She explained why, because we all know Sophie's mom will give us the ER bill after you break Sophie's nose. You, however, continued to ask _whywhywhy_ as if you hadn't grown out of that phase when you were five."

Rachel curls her lip at him, and he doesn't hold it against her too much. She's an angry teenage girl, and well, she picked up that particular look from him.

"Since you can't seem to understand _why_ , you can go ahead and go to your room for an hour to think about it. Or, if an hour isn't long enough, you can spend however long it takes for you to understand that you're not going, and acting like a petulant child isn't going to change either of our minds."

He turns, starts to head down the hallway to the bedroom because really, the kid gets on his fucking nerves sometimes. Renee's coming out of their room, to investigate the slammed pantry and angry voices after denying the trip yet again. She can see the irritation in his face and raises a brow to ask what's wrong. Leo starts to open his mouth to tell her, but Rachel speaks first.

She plants her feet firmly, loud on the linoleum. It echos when she spouts "Yeah? Well you're not my father."

Renee's face is the picture of surprise. She glances at their daughter, then back to him, stunned that Rachel would ever state that. Sure, they've both heard Rachel correct someone in the past and say "not my dad, he's just married to my mom", but... Fuck, she's never said it with that kind of venom. He clenches his jaw and turns on his heel.

Leo fixes Rachel with The Look, which she knows well. The Look is very flat and clearly states that he's never taken her shit before, and he doesn't plan to start now. Rachel turns up her nose, daring him to say something.

There are plenty of things he could choose to say to her. Who was it who changed her diapers until she was four, because she refused to potty train? Who was it that cleaned her up and held her in the middle of the night when she'd puke? Who sat up all hours of the night in a steamy bathroom hoping it would decongest her poor little lungs? Who scrubbed her mattress spotless when her period came out of nowhere? Who took her to movies, sleepovers, chaperoned class trips, tucked her in, snuck her out for ice cream on school nights, drew with her, read her stories, tutored her, took care of her? 

Her mother certainly did those things, but if there was another man doing all of that then Leo definitely has never seen him. In fact, he wants to know who's name is on those adoption papers if he supposedly isn't her father.

Instead of asking her any of those questions, he spits back "Of course not, because I know you didn't get those shitty genes from me."

Leo regrets it the moment it comes out of his mouth. Rachel's snarl only deepens, but Leo points behind her and tells her firmly to _go_ , and stands there until he hears her door slam shut.

"That was fucked up," Renee states, sounding less than happy with him.

"I regretted it immediately," he tells her, turning to face her. Renee certainly looks less than pleased. He leans against the wall and scrubs his face with both hands. "I'm going to apologize as soon as I've calmed down."

Renee crosses her arms. "You damn well better."

He chews the inside of his lip for a moment, letting his wife glare at him. It's difficult to find the right words. "I'm surprised how much that genuinely hurt to hear. You know I don't have those emotions, really, which I assume just makes it all the worse. I don't know how to deal with that."

Leo's been here since Rachel was two and a half. He's been the one raising her alongside her mother, navigating parenthood to the best of his ability. Really, he never wanted kids. But he fell for Renee, so hard, and did his best to step up and be a father because he understood that was exactly what he was going to be if he stayed with Renee. He's loved Rachel as his own. If he's not her father then he doesn't know who is, because he's the only father she's ever had.

Ren's face softens just a touch. "I can understand that. Go get a drink or something and go apologize. She may not regret saying that now, but she will in the future. Your back was turned, you didn't see how surprised she was that it came out of her mouth."

Leo pushes off of the wall and heads down the hallway towards the bathroom. He brushes his hand across Renee's arm as he passes her. "I'll apologize in just a minute. I was going to make her stay home this weekend, but frankly after that I'd feel less than stellar for punishing her. Think of somewhere the three of us can go this weekend."

Ren shakes her head as the bathroom door shuts behind him. The sink comes on, and she can hear him sigh over the rush of water. Fuck. And she thought her auto-responder was bad.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always very appreciative of your comments and kudos, so don't be shy about leaving either of those!
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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